Sunday, August 28, 2016

On Thursday, Spanish football club FC Barcelona announced their first-choice goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, was sold to English club Manchester City F.C. for €18 million on a four-year deal. Manchester City is obliged to pay €2 million as add-ons.

33-year-old Claudio Bravo joined the Catalonians in the 2014 summer transfer window from Real Sociedad to replace Víctor Valdés. Bravo conceded only 43 goals in 75 matches overall, 72 La Liga matches, for the club.

In 2014, Bravo did not concede a single goal in nine consecutive league matches and set a new La Liga record for consecutive minutes without a concession. That season, he conceded only eighteen goals and won the Zamora Trophy awarded to the goalkeeper with the lowest goal-conceded-per-match ratio. He was named in the La Liga Team of the Season.

In two seasons at Camp Nou, Bravo won eight trophies — two La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, and one each of UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and Super Copa de España. Last year, Bravo led Chile to their maiden Copa América title and successfully defended the title this year in the Centenario edition of the tournament. He was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament in both tournaments.

After signing Manchester City, Bravo said, “It is not easy to leave a club like Barcelona where I had two fantastic years, but the opportunity to work with Pep Guardiola was too good to refuse.”

Earlier on Thursday, Barcelona announced signing Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen from AFC Ajax for €13 million.

Bravo faces Barcelona in the Champions League group stage, as the draw on Thursday placed Barcelona and Manchester City both in Group C.